Hulsea - Change April thru June
This page last modified on 23 June, 2005
Note: Every thumbnail in this index page is linked directly to the corresponding large-format photo. (Unlike the single thumbnail for H.californica on the Asteraceae Radiate group page.)
The Hulsea californica plants shown here were photographed on:
The point of showing the plants at these three times is to illustrate changes that initially confused several folks when trying to identify these plants based on casual visual observation. I'm indebted to Tom Chester ( http://tchester.org/sd/plants/ ) for detailed analysis of the Jepson Manual keys starting with Group 11 on page 185, and comparing H.californica with H.vestita on pages 290-291. He based this on a mid June query from Michael Charters ( http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/ ) who had asked about a plant which looked (from his photograph) very much like the one seen in the middle of the third (late June) line of this thumbnails page. Tom's conclusion was H.californica.
Until getting Tom's analysis, I had favored H.vestita ssp. callicarpha as a likely candidate based on the Jepson description "phyllary tips green or red-tinged", a characteristic seen in the 3rd (and possibly 2nd) photographs for the April and May examples. But the 2nd photograph on the June line shows that this characteristic had disappeared by then. Tom pointed out that the Jepson key for Hulsea, in pair #6, describes the leaves of H.californica as "gradually smaller upward", while those of H.vestita are "abruptly smaller above the rosette". Lacking an obvious rosette in these plants, I had trouble interpreting this point. The leaf size does seem to drop suddenly near mid-height in my earlier photos. Tom had also pointed to the probable decay or disappearance over time of the gross woolliness seen in my April and May examples. The rightmost photos of the small plant example show the change that had taken place by late June. The large plant examples at right of the 4th line of thumbnails show the similar May ... June changes.
The small plant was growing near the Penny Pines parking area (straight East, double the distance to Pacific Crest Trail crossing).
The large plant was growing along Pine Creek Rd, 100 yd beyond the 1st significant turn from the intersection with Sunrise Highway. That intersection is about 1/8 mile NW of the Penny Pines parking area. The new Penny Pines water pump is a short distance up the wash which crosses Pine Creek Rd at that 1st significant turn. There were quite a few additional Hulsea plants in this area.
Worth noting: The SDNHM Plant Atlas Project ( http://www.sdplantatlas.org/ ) database for this area (square N22 and nearby) mentions only H.californica, indicating that H.californica is at least probably more common than H.vestita. The Jepson description for H.vestita ssp. callicarpha says "Intergrades wtih H.californica". Whereas comparison of the fruit of 2 or more species is often important, the Jepson descriptions for these two overlap to the point of not being useful for identification. The last 3 photographs in the group shown here do match the Jepson description for the Hulsea genus fruits when viewed at the original scale delivered by the camera. (My website images are at less than 1/3 of that scale.)
So much for the limitations of trying to make subtle identification decisions based on the Jepson keys and descriptions alone ... i.e. before ever seeing a sample of the species that's already been identified by an expert.
-- Ken Bowles